Paul Menard Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Final practice seemed to be going exactly as planned for 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, but things went awry for him just minutes after blazing around Charlotte Motor Speedway with the fastest lap of the session. Keselowski toured around the Charlotte road course with a lap of 1 minute, 17.730 seconds at 105.596 mph, but as the session neared its final moments, the frontstretch chicane became the bane of his existence. The lap looked to be going just fineRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Kyle Larson, a close second to Kyle Busch in the 2018 spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway, took the first step toward avenging that loss—and a handful of others—with a pole-winning effort in Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session at the .533-mile short track. In the final round, Larson covered the distance in 15.015 seconds (127.792 mph) to complete a sweep of the three rounds in the session. In winning his first Busch Pole Award at Thunder Valley, hisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – Paul Menard had the hottest shoe on the hottest day of the NASCAR season. Torching Chicagoland Speedway with a lap at 180.102 mph (29.998 seconds) in the final round of Saturday’s knockout qualifying session at the 1.5-mile track, Menard won the pole for Sunday’s Overton’s 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Nearly 10 years had passed since Menard last claimed a Busch Pole Award. His only previous top qualifying effort cameRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – Clint Bowyer gambled. Then he made sure he cashed the winning ticket with a determined charge on two new tires as rain threatened Michigan International Speedway. Bowyer got the lead under caution at the end of Stage 2 of Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 when crew chief Mike Bugarewicz opted for two tires on the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Bowyer had to do the rest, holding off teammate Kevin Harvick after a restart on Lap 126, barely preventing Harvick, who had freshRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – Austin Dillon powered past Kaz Grala on Lap 72 of Saturday’s LTI Printing 250 at Michigan International Speedway and held the lead the rest of the way to win his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race since Aug. 19, 2016 at Bristol. Dillon kept Richard Childress racing teammate Daniel Hemric behind him after a restart on Lap 89 of a scheduled 125, but the race ended under caution two laps later when rain pelted the asphalt. The event started three hours late afterRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Pole sitter Cole Custer backed up his runner-up effort at Charlotte last Saturday with a fifth-place finish in Saturday’s Pocono Green 250 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It’s Custer’s first ever consecutive top-five finish and his third this season. “We had a really fast Haas Automation Mustang, we just didn’t have really good long run speed. That was our biggest problem. We just got too tight at the end of a run,” said Custer. “It was interesting to run the package and tryRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Following an early morning rain storm, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series had just one practice session on Saturday morning to complete their preparations for NASCAR’s longest night, the Coca-Cola 600. When all was said and done, Joe Gibbs Racing’s sophomore driver, Erik Jones, led the way in his Toyota with a lap of 28.870 seconds, 187.045 mph, around Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kyle Larson clocked in second, 0.059 seconds behind Jones on the time sheet. Jones also had the fastest 10-lap average inRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Kevin Harvick, nicknamed NASCAR’s “Closer,” earned his moniker on Saturday night at Kansas Speedway, passing reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. on the next-to-last lap to add the KC Masterpiece 400 to his collection of victories this season. Charging from sixth place and chasing race leader Martin Truex Jr. after a restart on Lap 259 of 267, Harvick found speed in the top lane with five laps left and passed Truex on the outside through Turns 3Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a stirring duel for the win in the spring 2012 race at Kansas Speedway, the track underwent a massive reconfiguration that was completed by the time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returned to the track in October. With the facelift, the track turned from a tame 1.5 miler to a treacherous beast that did its best to chew up and spit out as many race cars as possible in its opening weekend. Mark Martin and Aric Almirola would be the two cars to getRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Rookie phenom William Byron hasn’t had the results fans, critics and the team would’ve hoped for after three races, but that all changed after scoring a career-best 12th in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway. More importantly than a top-15 effort, Byron led his first-ever laps in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race. The collegiate driver put his No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on top of the scoring pylon for 15 laps. Byron’s road to the lead started on Lap 190, when theRead More